Summer Fun

This post is a photo journal of all the fun things we did from July 14- July 26. 

Tanner went on a painting spree, and asked to paint several times a day. Dallin was excited to join him.

Tanner's Masterpiece. He said it's a barn on a farm with fields.

 Dallin's. He said "See made!! Bird fwying!"

While I worked on the computer one afternoon, I turned around and saw this.

Tanner is "reading" the Book of Mormon.

Jeremy worked on putting in the grout for the shower tiles. I remember, most nights during these couple weeks Jeremy spent working on something in the bathroom while I did dinner and got the boys ready for bed. And depending on what he was doing, he would sometimes work on it really late into the night. It's all slow going, but he's doing a really great job at it!

We enjoyed the beautiful heat and humidity by being outside as much as possible.

I had the chance to see my favorite music teacher--Susan Kenney!! She is my beloved BYU professor, mentor, and friend. I'm so glad she had a conference in Minneapolis and that she was willing to do dinner with me during her busy schedule. I cannot say enough about this amazing woman. She is my hero! It was awesome to talk with her for hours about kids and music and teaching! It got me even more excited for my teaching job this fall.

We enjoyed school lunch nearly everyday that we were in town this summer. I think I've mentioned in two other posts how much I love this summer program in our town. It was our one routine to keep us going, and it saved us about $30 a week. It's so fun watching the boys eat a lot of good food, and I didn't have to do anything to prepare or clean up it up!

We decided it was time for Tanner to get a hair cut. We usually cut his hair at home, but last time he screamed bloody murder the whole time about all the hair getting all over him (even thought we had a towel) and we accidentally cut him, so I promised him that this time we could go to Great Clips for his haircut. 

He loved every minute of it!

Jeremy played in the pool with the boys one evening while I helped at our church youth group.

Dallin was especially daring on the slide, sliding down from the top to the bottom. Tanner felt better about sitting on the bottom of the slide and then plopping into the pool.

Dallin loves blueberries, and so we were on a blueberry kick for awhile. The only thing I don't like is that he doesn't really chew them. Half the time, he doesn't even bother mushing them, he just swallows them whole, like they're pills or something!

One day, I went to the St Paul temple with these lovely ladies from church. It turned out to be a very special day for more reasons than one. We all ate lunch at Chipotle afterword.

Jeremy was able to get the tile floor going.

Such a hard worker.

We managed to go camping for one night, Friday July 24. We went to Mystery Cave State Park. It was beautiful. As soon as we got there, Dallin insisted on wearing his backpack and exploring with his binoculars.

We enjoyed a little hike on this beautiful trail.

There were lots of fish jumping and popping up along the river to catch their dinner. That's what we're all watching for.

We could see deer beds among these tall ferns and bushes.

At our campground we played hide and seek. It's really funny when the boys hide because they aren't hard to find!

That evening we had fun roasting marshmallows and hotdogs and tried to catch a few fireflies that we saw. Then we headed over to a special storytelling presentation at the campground amphitheater. A lady read from Little House on the Prairie and taught us Pioneer songs and games. It was a perfect event for our kids! It was especially awesome because that very day was Mormon Pioneer Day, where our church commemorates the arrival of the early Saints into the Salt Lake Valley, because they were forced to leave their homes back east due to extreme religious persecutions. 

The next day, we took a tour of Forrestville, MN, which is a little pioneer town preserved to look like the 1890's. We got to see an old store and home. It was really amazing, and once again went perfectly with church Pioneer Day.

Out in the garden in Forrestville, the boys helped gather fresh chard.

This place reminded me a lot of Old Nauvoo. We didn't make any plans to correspond these activities with Pioneer Day, it was just one of those neat coincidences, a tender mercy from God. I felt really blessed how perfect it all worked out for us!

Later that day, we made it back to Austin in time for a church social at the park. We had an adult horseshoe tournament! It was really fun, and I actually did pretty well.

That evening, I took Tanner to the movie theatre for a Mommy-Son date. It was his very first time ever at the movies. It was my first time going to the movies in Austin (which left me wanting, to say the least). We saw Minions, and Tanner loved the whole experience. We took some selfies before the show started.

On Sunday, we spent some time writing letters to family. This time during letter writing, Tanner wrote squiggles on his paper to look like writing, and he spoke the sentences that he wanted in his letter while he wrote his squiggles.

Sacramento Part II

The second half of our trip in Sacramento was filled with lots of fun with extended family.

Friday, the boys did a painting project with silly Grandma Z.

Both boys were very focused.

Tanner liked mixing his colors so that it all turned brown. His paintings are the top three sculptures. Dallin liked keeping his colors separate and only painted on the raised part of the sculpture. His paintings are the bottom three (Grandma painted in the background for Dallin's).

Jeremy and I visited Grandma Davidson's grave. The headstone was in the process of being constructed. We took a picture of our shadows to show that we were both there.

We certainly miss her. Still hard to believe she is gone.

I was able to spend some one-on-one time with Grandma June! We sorted through some of her books and belongings since she was getting ready to go on a long visit to Utah. She was really impressed that I could take a selfie of the two of us! So adorable!

Here are the boys with their Great, Great Grandma June. I don't think they understand how amazing it is to be part of five living generations, otherwise they might have smiled a little more in this picture. Oh, well!

On Friday evening, we went on a double date with Grandma and Grandpa, er, Mom and Dad. (It gets confusing what to call our parents these days!) First we enjoyed delicious Thai food. Then, we went to Circus Theatre to see Bye Bye Birdie! It was done really well, and one of the workers kept telling us we had amazing seats. Haha, we were in the very back row. But she was right, they were great seats. Thanks to our cousins Abbey and Natalie and Allie for babysitting!

Waiting for the show to start. I thought it was funny how we all split up for a few quick minutes to "go to the bathroom" and then we all showed up with some kind of treat.

On Saturday morning, I found the boys building with their Grampz.

Jeremy decided to replace all of the old doorknobs in the house as mom and dad's future Christmas present. We recently did this in our own home, and you'd be surprised what a difference it makes! 

I think his hard work paid off!

Saturday afternoon, we went swimming some more. Tanner got really comfortable with using his floaties in the water. Here he is trying to surf on a flat floatie thing.

On Saturday night, we were able to go to the temple with Mom and Dad.

We ran into Susie and Kevin there, and had a great time doing sealing ordinances. It turned out to be even more of a neat experience than we anticipated. 

Church was really nice. Dallin got a good snooze for part of it. Then he went to nursery really well. Tanner also had a great time in his primary class.

We were able to visit more with Linda Sunday afternoon. She was kind enough to babysit for us the night before, and the boys had a great time with her!

Sunday evening, we got to be with the Davidson clan to celebrate some birthdays in the family.

It was fun seeing more babies!

Dallin liked building with Uncle Wyatt.

Lots of giggles!

and hugs!

Tanner folowed Aaron around everywhere. They became good buddies throughout the week.

This picture was to help me remember that we ran into Susie and Kevin in the temple. And of course, it's always a treat to be with Glenna. I love her!

I love being with these people!

That evening, Tanner took a few pictures of things he wanted to remember--Cody and Grampa.

We were sad to leave Monday morning, but it was fun to ride the train again!

The boys made themselves at home!

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Z for letting us be with you for a whole week! When we got home, Tanner cried and cried and said he wants to live at Grandma's house and be with Cody because they have fun stuff at their house and our house is boring. We definitely give this trip a thumbs up!